Too Intensive Workouts Can Harm Health

No one can argue that physical activity is good and actually essential for health. Sports speed up metabolic processes, help to keep fit, and prevent a variety of health issues, such as cardio-vascular diseases, problems with skeletal and immune systems. But how much time should one devote to sports to keep a healthy balance, so that workouts were for health benefit, rather than caused harm?

Image Credit: James Michelfelder / M+F Magazine

If you have become obsessed with sports, and every day you jog too much and do tons of power exercises, it is important to understand that such activity will not be healthy. Excessively intensive sport activities lead to early aging, decrease of the immunity system, as well as may lead to greater problems with musculoskeletal system, particularly because of high risk of injury and heavy overloads. Excessive trainings stimulate free radicals production and deterioration of metabolic processes. In summer intensive workouts can dehydrate the organism.

How to understand that you are exhausted by excessive training?

Usually it takes quite a long time (up to a few months) to realize that something wrong is going on with your organism and it is time to slow down with workouts. As a rule, a few months pass before symptoms of overtraining become apparent. But if you are attentive, the body sends clear signs.

So, it is good to be aware of such signs.

First of all, sleep regime is disturbed. Heavy wake up in the morning, 12-14 hours sleep is not refreshing, sometimes a person can suffer from insomnia. As for emotional condition — rapid swings of mood, irritability and sudden attacks of aggression.

Weight loss may be an obvious sign of excessive physical activity (unless you, of course, do not have excessive weight). If you notice that your body volumes have become smaller, then immediately reduce physical load, otherwise you are at risk of complete exhaustion.

What types of sports can provoke overtraining

So, what types of physical activities can provoke overtraining and exhaustion? First of all, these are sports that require significant outbreaks of energy, for example, running, swimming, skiing. This also includes some game-based sports, because they make a person so engaged in the process that he loses a contact with the body. For example, it could be football, basketball, tennis or badminton.

How to avoid overtraining?

First of all, develop a habit of being attentive to your body. If you are in doubt: is it worth running another circle around the stadium — do not do it. Doubt is already an excuse for stopping. The ideal option would be if you first consult a personal trainer and a doctor. Based on your physiological parameters they can develop an individual training program that will perfectly suit your goals.

Training diary

Do not be lazy, and have a special training diary, where you record all the training-related data, as well as your weight and amount of calories consumed per day. So you can control the process and detect any deviations in training in due time.

If you are doing active sports, doctors strongly recommend drinking a lot of water (mineral still water). If your training lasts more than one hour, you might think of drinking special sports drinks with electrolytes.

And, perhaps, the most important recommendation is a mindful and attentive approach to your body and workouts. Do not try to reach everything at once, and gradually increase physical loads, so that your body feels comfortable.